We’re always being asked about process. I’m sure this has been covered before but the questions still come up: How do you write your plays? What do you do exactly? Do you have to use the titles of the songs in the play? Do you have to use the words of the songs? Do the plays have to be about the songs?
No.
It’s simple: we listen to albums and if we get an idea for some dialogue or a scene - we write it. Sometimes, and I won’t be the only one to admit this, we listen to albums and we get nothing. Sometimes there is no connection, no spark, no epiphany and we’re left looking at the liner notes or album cover art to inspire some kind of emotional connection just to get a few bits of dialogue on the page. If I remember correctly, one album (that will remain unnamed) had me forcing words on a page to the point where one character actually said “I got nothing”. And scene. We walk into these little experiments with vulnerability, excitement, and honesty and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Sometimes we hear a lyric or a chord progression and we’re writing for days.
But since we keep getting these questions and we’re not writing as much as we normally do since we’re in production mode, I want to put a challenge to you, our patron, if you choose to take it. I am currently working on a longer blog entry waxing poetic on Radiohead’s album Ok Computer because this year, people, that album turns 18. It’s a pretty important album to me and a lot of other folks and while I actually haven’t written anything that has been directly inspired by it, this album has certainly made a difference in how I listen to music and how I approach writing. So, as an experiential introduction to our process, so to speak, I invite you to listen to Ok Computer, write a little scene, and if you like, send it in to us for a read.
You’re invited to: our process.
/mandy
No.
It’s simple: we listen to albums and if we get an idea for some dialogue or a scene - we write it. Sometimes, and I won’t be the only one to admit this, we listen to albums and we get nothing. Sometimes there is no connection, no spark, no epiphany and we’re left looking at the liner notes or album cover art to inspire some kind of emotional connection just to get a few bits of dialogue on the page. If I remember correctly, one album (that will remain unnamed) had me forcing words on a page to the point where one character actually said “I got nothing”. And scene. We walk into these little experiments with vulnerability, excitement, and honesty and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. Sometimes we hear a lyric or a chord progression and we’re writing for days.
But since we keep getting these questions and we’re not writing as much as we normally do since we’re in production mode, I want to put a challenge to you, our patron, if you choose to take it. I am currently working on a longer blog entry waxing poetic on Radiohead’s album Ok Computer because this year, people, that album turns 18. It’s a pretty important album to me and a lot of other folks and while I actually haven’t written anything that has been directly inspired by it, this album has certainly made a difference in how I listen to music and how I approach writing. So, as an experiential introduction to our process, so to speak, I invite you to listen to Ok Computer, write a little scene, and if you like, send it in to us for a read.
You’re invited to: our process.
/mandy
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